Price, Sterling

1809 – Sterling "Old Pap" Price born on the 20th of September in Farmville, Prince Edward County in Virginia.

1831 – Was admitted to the bar and established a law practice. A year later, he moved to Keytesville, Missouri, and ran a hotel and a merchandise store.

1833 – Married Martha Head of Randolph County, Missouri on the 14th of May. They would have seven children, five of whom survived to adulthood.

1840 – 1844 – Served as a member of the Missouri Legislature in its House of Representatives from, serving as speaker.

1845 – 1846 – He was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth Congress and resigned to participate in the Mexican-American War.

1846 – Raised and was appointed Colonel of the Second Regiment, Missouri Mounted Volunteer Cavalry on the 12th of August.

1847 – Served as military governor of New Mexico, where he put down the Taos Revolt, an uprising of Native Americans and Mexicans in January. President James K. Polk promoted Price to Brigadier General of Volunteers on July.

1853 – 1857 – Was governor of Missouri and president of the state convention of March, which opposed secession.

1861 – His displeasure at the activities of the extreme Unionists led him to accept the command of the Missouri secessionist militia in May. At Wilson’s Creek he and Ben McCulloch defeated the Union forces. Price then took Lexington but was soon obliged to retreat into Arkansas.

1862 – After the Union victory at Pea Ridge, Price accepted a regular Confederate commission. His campaign around Iuka and Corinth, Mississippi, was unsuccessful.

1863 – 1864 – He opposed Gen. Frederick Steele in Arkansas.

1864 – Raid through Missouri, after initial successes, was finally turned back at Westport and was the last Confederate threat in the Far West.

1867 – Was a leader of a Confederate exile colony in Carlota, Veracruz. When the colony proved to be an utter failure, he returned to Missouri, impoverished and in poor health. He died in St. Louis, Missouri, on the 29th of September and was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery.